It has been quite some time since the Raving Mad Gamerz (RMG) Summer League for Overwatch started. With the tournament itself spanning well over three months, there is of course a lot that happened. We saw teams go through differing runs of form, with some upsets and surprises and as such, it became quite an interesting tournament to watch. With all eleven teams being placed into the same group, we got a chance to see all the teams match up in a round-robin format. Here is your recap of the tournament!

Strong Starters Faltering

Being the first tournament of the year, all teams were eager to start the year strong. One team that did that, was Rage Quit Odyssey. With a comfortable 3-0 win over iEnvy Calypso and a clutch 3-1 win against Ironic Overdogs, they had a great start going into their matches against the two front runners ATK Overwatch and XvG 2CP. In both of these matches, they played well and had opportunities to possibly take maps off both of them. However, as the tournament progressed their form dipped, losing to both Team Mist and Ladon Overwatch quite convincingly. This left them in the sixth position, a bit lower than they were hoping especially considering their start to the leg.

Slow off the Starting Blocks

A team on the opposite side of the spectrum, Omnius Gaming Kintsugi started slowly, losing 3-0 to Team Mist in week one, but from there grew from strength to strength. With being the second team to take a map off XvG 2CP and also having beaten Evo Esports 3-0 in their encounter in the ATK calibration tournament, confidence was high going into their rematch with Evo the week after. This time however the game was much closer with Kintsugi taking a 3-2 win, showing their resilience in a tough match. With Kintsugi’s gradual improvement they managed to make the playoffs in a tie for fourth with Team Mist. This playoff match against Team Mist capped of their improvement since the start of RMG, with them taking a comfortable 3-0 win, exercising their demons.

Surprise Clouded in Mist

The biggest surprise of the leg was most definitely Team Mist. Many knew that they were a good team but not nearly as good as they were to show. As previously mentioned their 3-0 win over Kintsugi in the first week came as a shock and made teams take them more seriously. Team Mist being the first team to take a map off of 2CP was a further entrenchment that they were growing as a team and a formidable foe. A 3-0 loss to Evo lowered their stocks quite a bit, but they were to finish the leg not dropping another map beating both Odyssey and Ladon 3-0. Unfortunately, their playoff run ended quickly with that 3-0 loss to Kintsugi, however, they made teams take notice of them during this leg.

Notable Matchup turning Rivalry

A matchup to note of the teams in the bottom half of the standings was Rage Quit Neon Retrobution and Calypso. With the two teams having already met in the ATK calibration tournament and Calypso taking a 3-1 victory, many were eager to see what would happen. This time it would be Neon Retrobution to take the 3-1 victory showing how close these two teams are and further developing the friendly rivalry between the two.

Two Titans Meet

The most anticipated match of the entire tournament came in the final week. The two undefeated teams ATK Overwatch and XvG 2CP met in a battle for the esteemed first place. With both teams having played each other in an international tournament and ATK winning that match 3-1, as well as the fact that ATK had not dropped a map the entire leg so far, they were the favourites. 2CP gave it their all but were once again thwarted by ATK 3-1. They were then to meet once again in the playoff finals and this time ATK showed an even more dominant performance taking a comfortable 4-0 win, crowning themselves the champion of Raving Mad Gamerz Summer League for Overwatch!

Overall Standings

1. ATK Overwatch

2. XvG 2CP

3. Evo Esports

4. Team Mist/ Ominus Gaming Kintsugi

6. Rage Quit Odyssey

7. Ironic Overdogs

8. Ladon Overwatch

9. Rage Neon Retrobution

10. iEnvy Calypso

11. The Overwatch Cubs

Playoff Results

Play-in

Ominius Gaming Kintsugi 3-0 Team Mist

Semi-Finals

ATK Overwatch 3-0 Ominius Gaming Kintsugi

XvG 2CP 3-0 Evo Esports

Final

ATK Overwatch 4-0 XvG 2CP

Final Thoughts

Overall the results went as expected. Team Mist coming in far stronger than most expected threw the standings for a loop and placed teams in positions that they were not expecting to be in at the end of the regular season. Having such a long season was definitely interesting to see especially considering it allowed for teams to improve over the course of it. It also allowed for bad results not to have such a big impact as compared to losing a game you expected to win in a tournament where you only played three teams. Ultimately I hope to see more tournaments like these from Raving Mad Gamerz, they were both fun to play in and to watch. It also gives South African Overwatch a couple more options when considering competing!